This invention relates to a vectorial network analyzer.
From the prior art vectorial network analyzers are known, by means of which the reflection and/or transmission behavior (the “S-parameters”) of an electronic component or a network can be measured in a frequency-dependent manner.
One difficulty consists in the generation and supply of a high-frequency electrical signal to the component to be measured, as the electrical losses for instance of flexible lines increase overproportionally towards high frequencies. At frequencies up to 100 GHz loss-reduced lines are used, which however only should have a length of some decimeters, so as not to significantly deteriorate the measurement signal. For generating frequencies above 100 GHz electronic mixer stages are used, which however are available only at very high costs. In addition, such mixer stages are bulky and lead to unflexible measurement set-ups, as they must be connected with the measurement object via a rigid hollow conductor. Furthermore, each mixer stage can only be used for a specific frequency range, wherein for each of the eight hollow conductor standards (WR8-WR1, from 90 GHz to 1.1 THz) one individual, complex electronic component each must be manufactured. Another possibility for carrying out high-frequency measurements is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,348,683 B1. This measurement method, however, for example allows no determination of the phase position of all transmissive and reflected measurement signals that would be necessary for the realization of a two-port vector analyzer.